[MUSIC] Welcome to User Experience Design. In this lesson, we will cover some important terms and concepts. Definitions are important because different disciplines use the same term but they might have slightly different meanings. Thus, I'll provide you with definitions that we will use throughout the course. The core concept of user experience design is that users use interfaces to accomplish a task. This idea is going to be central to the way we approach the course. That is, in understanding the user and the task they want to accomplish, we'll be able to design the best interface. User experience design stars with the user, by user I mean the individual that is using some technology to accomplish some goal. Notice that I could have just easily have used the term artifact to accomplish a goal. By this I extend the thing that the user is using beyond a device. We all know someone that still uses a physical calendar to enter important events. To define interface, I'm going to use this graph Dix et al. I really like this graph because it gives us an image of the concept that users use interfaces to accomplish tasks. Here the interface Is defined as the mediation of the user's task and the system's core function. It tells us that the user must provide some input and that this leads to some output by the system. This graph reminds us that sometimes accomplishing a task, like calling someone, requires us engage a whole system, the mobile phone. Our cell phone has a core function, one of them being communicating with others. However, we can do this in various ways, we can either call or text or email. Additionally, each of these tasks require input that will lead to desired output. In the case of making a call, the input on my phone is pressing the contact icon for the person I want to call and then that person's cellphone rings. Notice that in placing a call, I opted to try to reach the person on their cellphone though I could have tried to call them on their office line instead. Now we come to the concept of user experience, the individual's ability to use that interface will be related to his personal characteristics. By this, we mean age, we mean education level, comfort with technology, physical constraints. At the group level, adoption of a system may have to do with how that individual characteristic affects other users. If there is an early adopter for example, then perhaps he might influence others to try the new system. This may even be related to emotional aspects of computing. For example, I've heard a number of elders say that they text because that's the way that they can communicate with their grandchildren. At the society level, there are also cultural issues that impact the use of a system. For example, our research has found that cultural conceptualizations of developmental disability affects the systems that users utilize. Also cultures may have varying regards to views on privacy and this may also affect utilization of a system. So now I've defined user and interface. By design I mean the development of novel creation. That is, I am making something new, this does not mean something unique. It may be that in some cases after studying the task in theuser, I might simply change the preexisting interface to get the desired outcome. This notion of desired outcome brings us to the goal of user interface design and having a positive user experience. That is, to design interfaces that are useful and usable. By useful, I mean that it allows the user to complete a task. Back to our graph, the system will actually produce the desired outcome. By usable, I refer to the fact that the user can accomplish the task in an effective, efficient and satisfying manner. In our graph, this would require that the input be easy and fast and that the output actually complete the task. In this class, we will study the interface design cycle. Notice that this is not linear but rather that the arrows tell us that it's a process that is continuing. In future modules, we will study each of these phases of design with the goal of experiencing the techniques that are used in each of these phases. We start with requirement gathering phase. In this phase the designer aims to understand how the user is currently completing the task. Here we have the designers as detective, rying to understand the who, what, when, where of the user's goals. We accomplish this via set of techniques where we sometimes observe the users and other times we engage with them directly. We ask them questions or we might observe their current practices. The information we collect in this phase will allow us to understand the problem space. I like the notion of designer as detective because sometimes what the user needs is a mystery, even to the user himself, and the goal of the designer is to deduce what the best interface is to accomplish the task. In the second phase, designing alternatives, we are able to develop novel interfaces to successfully complete the task. In the third phase, the designer takes the best designs from phase two and actually builds models or prototypes that the user will be able to engage with. These models meet core aspects of the task. In the fourth phase, we take one of the designs from phase three and we actually test the system's usability and usefulness with either users or experts who can provide us with feedback about how to improve the system. In this lesson, you've learned important terms and concepts related to user experience design. I hope to see you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
